The Flock's Worst Fears
by GundamGurl17
Summary: A series of oneshots based on the flock's worst fears. Includes Fear and Sightless Dreams.
1. Gone

**A/N: It's finally finished! (Okay, in all honesty it's been done for quite awhile, but I'm just now getting around to posting.) For those of you who don't know, this is kind of a mini-series based on, you guessed it, the flock's worst fears. First off is Max. I'll be posting in age-order. They take place after Jeb "died" but before TAE. So here you go.  
**

**Disclaimer: **(before I forget this) I don't own Maximum Ride. But, you know, if somebody wanted to sell Iggy... or Fang... I'll take either one.

Gone

_I rolled over in my bed. Something had woken me up. A noise. What was it? Was the flock already awake? What time was it? I rolled over and looked at my Mickey Mouse alarm clock: 7:26 a.m. None of the flock ever woke up this early. Not even Fang. I sat up and looked around my room. It was completely dark save for a few rays of sunlight peeking out from behind the cloth that served as a curtain over my window._

_Slowly I got up, shivering as my bare arms and legs left the warmth of my quilt; I was wearing shorts and an oversized t-shirt. My bare feet were nearly soundless as I walked across the room to my door and pulled it open gently to avoid making it squeak. Anything louder than my footsteps and my breathing would wake Iggy. And at 7:26 a.m., he would not be a happy camper. I know his sensitive hearing is a big help to him, but it can be a huge pain in the arse for the rest of us._

_I tip-toed further down the hall. Fang's door was slightly ajar. He wouldn't be awake already, would he? Then again, it was Fang. Anything was possible. I pushed the door open, silently praying he wasn't getting dressed._

_He wasn't. In fact, he wasn't in the room at all. Frowning slightly, I walked into the kitchen._

_"Fang?" I called. Nobody answered._

_I walked back down the hall to Iggy's room. I knocked softly, then let myself in. He wasn't in his room either. Strange, I thought. I went to the Gasman's room, and then to the room shared by Angel and Nudge. Nobody._

_"Fang?" I called again, louder. "Iggy! Nudge! Gazzy! Angel!" I walked through the entire house. I was the only one inside._

_By now I was thoroughly confused. Was my alarm clock broken? Was it later in the day than I thought? If the flock had gone somewhere, they would have told me first, wouldn't they?_

_I was beginning to get nervous. Something wasn't right; I could feel it. But I took a couple calming breaths. As I always say: no use panicking until you need to. They probably just went out to pick strawberries or something. And they would be fine; Fang was with them._

_I walked outside into the bright sunshine. I did a 360, looking for my flock, but I didn't see them._

_"Fang!" I hollered._

_'Fang! Fang!' My voice echoed off the canyon walls._

_Panicky feeling aside, I was really getting annoyed. Why wouldn't they have woken me up? I didn't know whose bright idea that was, but they were going to be in for it. I decided to get a better view. An aerial view. _

_I unfurled my wings, and, with a bit of a running start, lifted off into the air. I got the familiar rush I always get when flying as I scanned the ground below for my flock. A sinking feeling formed in my stomach; they were nowhere to be found._

_"Fang!" I yelled again. "Iggy! Guys, can you hear me?!" I was screaming as loud as I possibly could, but the only answer I received was the echo._

_Suddenly, I caught sight of something on the ground. Even with my raptor vision, I couldn't be sure what it was, but it was about the size of a mutant bird kid, and it was all black. Could it be Fang?_

_I descended in a wide arc above the figure. As I got closer, I realized that it __**was**__ Fang. And I realized something else too: something was __**definitely**__ wrong. I came to a running halt in front of him. And I gasped._

_Fang was sprawled on all fours, panting heavily. One wing was bent awkwardly behind his back; I knew it must have been broken. Parts of his shirt were shredded, and sticky dark spots indicated the places where wounds had been inflicted. He was __**covered**__ in blood. Blood dripped from his head, his nose, his mouth, and who-knows-where-else._

_"Fang!" I practically screamed, and ran to his side. "Fang, what happened?! Where are the others?!"_

_Fang looked up at me through fluttering eyelids. He took a shaky breath and swallowed before saying, "Gone."_

_"Gone where? Talk to me, Fang!"_

_He shook his head. "Gone," he repeated. "They're just… gone."_

_"Who took them?"_

_"Nobody. We were attacked… by Erasers…" he trailed off in a violent coughing fit, retching as he spat out mixed blood and bile. He pitched forward and I caught him, laying his head in my lap._

_"Look at me, Fang," I said. " What do you mean, nobody took them? Didn't the Erasers…?" The truth hit me like a ton of bricks. "You don't mean… the Erasers didn't… they're not dead?!"_

_Fang coughed again and looked up at me with sad, dark eyes. Then he said, "Max… you have to understand… I tried my best… to save them… I tried, I – " Another coughing fit cut him off, and he convulsed for a moment before falling into my lap once again. His eyes rolled back and he seemed to be struggling to breathe._

_"Come on, Fang," I managed, my voice thick from crying. "Let's get you home. You need help."_

_Fang blinked slowly and said, "No. It's too late for me. I'm sorry Max." His voice had dropped to a hoarse whisper. With a trembling hand, Fang reached out and pulled me closer to him, so that he was whispering in my ear. "You have to get out of here. They'll be looking for you. They'll kill you too. You have to escape. Go…"_

_I shook my head, my vision blurred with tears. "No. No! I won't leave you! Fang! Fang, look at me! Don't give up! __**Fang!**__" I sounded helpless and plaintive and I knew it. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that Fang lived. If he died, if the flock died, I knew I would die too._

_Fang looked up at me one last time. "I'm sorry… Max." He seemed to sigh. His body went limp and his eyes, still open, stared unseeingly at the sky._

_I couldn't believe it. Fang was dead. Just like that. He had died in my arms._

_I screamed. I screamed loud and long. I screamed for the unfairness of it all, the way they all had to die while I had to be alive. I knelt there, with Fang's lifeless body in my lap, and I just kept screaming._

I was still screaming when I woke up. At first, I didn't even know where I was. Tears were streaming down my cheeks, making it impossible to see anything. And then I heard running feet, and a voice.

"Max! Max, are you okay?!"

_Fang._

Within moments, he had bounded into my room, the rest of the flock on his heels. He ran over to my bed and grabbed my shoulders, demanding, "Max, talk to me!"

With a gasp of indescribably intense relief, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. It didn't matter that he was taken completely by surprise. It didn't matter that I was bawling like a baby. It didn't matter that the rest of the flock was staring at me in shock. All that mattered was that Fang was here, that he was _alive_.

"You're alive," I whispered. "You're alive. Thank god, thank god, you're alive!"

"Yes, I'm alive," Fang said, sounding confused and slightly embarrassed while still sounding calm. All in all, sounding very… Fang.

He didn't hug me back, but he didn't make me let go, either. Slowly, the rest of the flock joined us on my bed.

"She had a really bad nightmare where we were all dead," Angel explained, looking close to tears herself.

"Oh, Angel," I said, and started sobbing harder, if that was possible. I let go of Fang and gave her a squeeze, then hugged the rest of the flock too. Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy all hugged me back. Iggy looked even more awkward than Fang had. I let go of him and turned back to Fang, who stiffened slightly as if preparing for another hug.

I calmed down some then, and my face reddened as I began to study my quilt with great interest.

Fang reached out and cupped my face in his hand, so that I would look at him. He tenderly brushed my tears away with his thumb.

"I'm not going to die," he said softly. "I promise." He gave a half-smile. "I'm the Invincible Fang, remember?"

I smiled.

"The Invincible Fang? Is that kinda like the Invincible Hulk?" the Gasman asked.

Iggy shook his head and sighed in mock-exasperation. "That's the _Incredible_ Hulk, Gazzy," he said.

"Well, isn't that the same thing?"

I couldn't help it: I burst out laughing. We all did. Even Fang grinned and chuckled softly, he teeth glinting in the dim moonlight.

"Alright, back to bed everybody," Fang said when we had caught our breath.

The younger kids cast me smiles over their shoulders, and I smiled back to let them know that I was really okay. I lifted Iggy's hand to my face so that he knew too.

As soon as they had left, Fang shifted his gaze back to me.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" he asked. His voice was calm, but his eyes were worried.

I smiled at him. "As long as you all are okay, I'll be fine," I promised truthfully.

"I'll hold you to that," he said. He turned and left the room, as soft and silent as a ghost.

I lay back down on my bed and closed my eyes, confident that I would be having better dreams.

I could still feel Fang's hand on my cheek.

**A/N: Yep, lucky you, you get two this time. There's the Faxness for all you Fax shippers out there. Personally, I was quite proud of Fang's "death" in this one. A little mushy, perhaps, but on the whole, I liked how this one turned out. Let me know what you think. Next up is Fang. -GG17  
**


	2. Caged

**A/N: Hey, guess what? You get two stories today, 'cause I'm nice like that. And because a few people have already read this one. And because soon I'm (hopefully) going to be too busy reading Breaking Dawn to post. But I will post the rest of the chapters within the next week or so. After this, I'll probably only post one a day. Anyway, about this oneshot. This is Fang's. Again, takes place after Jeb's "death" and before TAE. This is the fic formerly known as Fear. When I posted that one, however, I didn't have a good title, and so I just slapped one on there. I never liked it very much, so I hope Caged fits better. Even if you have already read this one when it was posted as Fear, I ask that you please read it again, because I've made some minor changes to it. As always, reviews are appreciated! Iggy's Sightless Dreams is next. -GG17**

**Oh, and this is very important. I forgot last time. (Sorry!) I have to give a big thanks to kiki1592 for giving me ideas for Max, Angel, and Gazzy's fears. Without kiki's ideas, I'm not sure I would have made this series. So, yay kiki1592!**

**Disclaimer: **don't own Maximum Ride.

Caged

_Fang was in a cage. No, not a cage, a dog crate. At the School. He was terrified._

_Fang hated cages. It was true, the whole flock was slightly claustrophobic thanks to the School, but for Fang, it was worse. He couldn't handle being in a cage. The walls were tight. He was trapped. He couldn't breathe. On the verge of panic, Fang curled up into a ball, arms tight around his head, until he could get control of himself. He would never allow the others to see him this scared._

_When Fang calmed down slightly, he took a shuddering breath and looked around the room, which was lit from above by glowing fluorescent lights. There were five other crates in the room. The flock. Fang looked at them, their faces holding various degrees of fear._

_There was Angel, in her tiny crate, her wide innocent eyes peering through the metal. The whitecoats had just finished with her. There were cuts on her cheeks, burns on her arms and legs, and she was winded, panting slightly. That poor girl, Fang thought. She's only three years old._

_The Gasman was equally scared and wide eyed, but he tried not to show it. He always tried to be strong, to act older than he was._

_Nudge was looking around, her eyes darting from side to side. She seemed to twitch with nervous energy, but for now at least, she wasn't talking. Her curly hair was limp and scraggly._

_Iggy was in the next crate over. Yet again, there was a bandage over his eyes. As if that was going to help anything. He was blind forever, and it was the whitecoats' faults. Iggy sat still, his breathing even, but Fang could tell he wasn't asleep. He was too stiff, too rigid with anxiety. His long fingers held his knees in a white knuckled grip._

_And last but not least, Max. Max was in her crate staring at the wall stoically. There was no expression on her face. She didn't acknowledge the others in the room. She just sat, staring, deep in thought._

_The door swung open and a whitecoat came in. He was a man in is forties with graying hair and an angry, disagreeable face. Wordlessly he walked over to Max's cage and opened it. He then proceeded to grab her by the arm and pull her from the crate._

_Max screamed, thrashing violently. Fang smiled. Way to go, Max! She never went without a fight. Two other whitecoats hurried into the room. One of them caught sight of Fang and kicked his crate, yelling, "What are you smirking at?"_

_Fang cringed, his earlier panic washing over him again. He felt like an animal, completely at the mercy of the whitecoats. He immediately began to tremble, his chest constricting. He was on the verge of hyperventilating. Quickly Fang covered his head with his arms until he could breathe again, then returned to watching the spectacle before him. This time he was careful to keep his face impassive._

_Max continued to scream, kicking and punching with all her might, but the three whitecoats eventually overpowered her, dragging her from the room. Fang didn't dare imagine what they were about to do to her. But she would be okay. Max was strong. _

_Fang sat back in his crate and was about to doze off when one of the whitecoats gave a cry. There was the sound of a scuffle outside the room, and three things fell to the ground. Three whitecoat sized things. Suddenly Max burst into the room, wings out behind her. Fang glimpsed the unconscious whitecoats lying just outside the door._

"_Hold tight guys! I'm coming!" Max shouted. She hurried across the room to Fang's crate first._

"_Max, what…?" was all Fang could manage._

"_We're getting out of here, Fang," Max replied._

_As she reached for the latch on his crate, another whitecoat bounded into the room. He held something in his hand… a gun! Fang had barely opened his mouth to give a warning when the whitecoat fired._

_Max didn't even have time to react. She jerked as the bullet slammed into the side of her head, and blood exploded from the wound. Then she fell to the ground in front of Fang, her lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. _

_Fang felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest. "MAX!" he screamed in agony. He gripped the bars on his crate and shook them, furiously trying to get out, but then the whitecoat turned the gun on him, and he froze. A long black tunnel formed behind him, and he was pulled into it, Max's body drifting farther and farther away. In helpless desperation, Fang reached out a hand as if to grab hold of her. He cried out again as he fell even deeper into the tunnel…_

"MAX! NO!"

Fang sat bolt upright in bed, sweat drenched and gasping for air. He had just had time to gauge his surroundings – he was in his room in the house at the canyon – when he heard running feet, and the flock burst into the room, Max at the lead.

"Fang! Fang, are you alright?!" she demanded, grasping his face in her hands.

Fang pulled her into a tight hug, burying his face into her shoulder. Max seemed taken aback, but she didn't attempt to make him let go. Slowly she hugged him back. They stayed that way with the rest of the flock looking on in startled silence for what seemed like a long time. Fang's shoulders quaked and his breath came in uneven gasps, but when he finally did pull away and look up at Max, his eyes were dry. Fang never cried. Never.

"Are you alright?" Max asked again softly. Fang no longer had his arms around her, but he gripped her hand tightly in his own, as if afraid she might disappear.

Fang nodded, swallowed, and said hoarsely, "Yeah. Just – just a dream." The words seemed to be more for his own benefit than anyone else's.

"He dreamed you were dead." Angel's voice was barely above a whisper.

"It was just a dream," Fang repeated, his voice still hoarse.

Iggy frowned. "But it could happen. The Erasers… we could all be killed. Like Jeb." He whispered the name.

"But we won't be," Max said firmly. "We're the flock; the family of mutant bird kids. No stupid Erasers are going to get us."

The flock nodded their heads solemnly.

Max sighed, desperate to lighten the mood. "Come on guys. No more frowny faces. Let's get back to bed, and then in the morning, Ig can make waffles for breakfast. How does that sound?"

Gazzy gave a small smile. "That sounds good," he said.

The others murmured their agreement.

Max moved to get off of Fang's bed, but he seemed reluctant to let go of her hand. Then Nudge crawled up onto the bed beside them and wrapped her arms around Fang.

"It's okay," she said. "We're okay. All of us."

Angel nodded and joined the group on the bed, also hugging Fang.

"Yeah, we're all okay," Gazzy agreed. He tugged on Iggy's sleeve and the two of them jumped onto the bed, forming a group hug with Fang at the center.

One by one, they peeled away, until Max was the only one left. "Try to get back to sleep, 'k?" she said.

Fang nodded. He still hadn't let go of her hand. "Max?" he said as she turned to leave.

Max turned around. "Yeah?"

"Thanks," Fang said, finally releasing her hand.

Max smiled and left the room.

Fang lay down on his bed, but he didn't close his eyes. He knew wouldn't sleep anymore tonight. Instead he lay thinking. Cages terrified him. But being caged wasn't his worst fear. His worst fear was loosing her. He loved her. He couldn't live without her.

Without her.

_Max…_


	3. Sightless Dreams

**A/N: Ah, here we go. This is the original, folks. This is what started this madness. You'll notice that this one isn't quite along the same lines as the others. Originally, I had wanted to write a oneshot about how Iggy became blind, and a dream sequence seemed like the best way to do that. One thing led to another, and soon I wanted Fang to have a nightmare, simply because the thought of Fang having a nightmare was, let's face it, quite hot. (See? This is what happens when you're bored in school and obsessed with Maximum Ride.) Let's see, there were some things I was going to mention... I didn't want to forget. Oh! I remember one of them. As pointed out by the epitome of randomness, these fics pretty much follow a pattern, and they do all tend to end the same way. That was my intention. Sorry if it gets a little repetitive, but I personally am a fan of "cute flock moments". Also, if I remember correctly, there was like, a two year time span between the time that Jeb "died" and TAE, so these are intended to be spread out throughout that time period. It's not like they all happened within the same week. Oh, and I remembered the other thing I was going to say. I figured, with the whole mind-reading thing, Angel would have heard their dreams. That's why Angel usually ends up explaining everything. I think that's everything that I needed to say. Reviews are always appreciated! Next up is Nudge! -GG17  
**

Sightless Dreams

_Iggy looked out through the bars on his dog crate, surveying the rest of the flock. Angel and Nudge were curled up on the floor of their crates, asleep. The Gasman looked around with wide eyes, jumping at every little sound. Fang sat perfectly still in the back of his crate, arms over his head, his breathing carefully even. Max looked solemnly out of her crate. Their eyes met, and she gave Iggy a nod, but did not smile. It was a typical day at the School._

_The sound of feet in the hallway shattered the near silence, making them all jump. Nudge and Angel gasped and sat up, instantly awake. Iggy, Max, and the Gasman all looked in the direction of the sound. Even Fang flinched slightly, his hands gripping his legs so hard his knuckles were white. The flock knew that sound well. It haunted them, just like the antiseptic smell of the room. A whitecoat was coming._

_It would choose any or all of them, and lead them off to another room, where terrifying and painful things would be done to them. It had happened before. It would happen again._

_The whitecoat strode into the room and wordlessly observed the flock. Another, older whitecoat followed the first._

_"Which one, sir?" the first asked._

_The second deliberated for a moment before pointing to Iggy's crate and saying, "That one."_

_The first nodded and walked over. Iggy hunched as far back into the crate as he could. He could feel the flock's eyes on him. The crate was opened, and the whitecoat reached in to grab hold of Iggy. _

_With a grunt, Iggy let fly a kick at the whitecoat's hand. It connected. The whitecoat hissed in pain and hurriedly pulled his hand back. Not one to be deterred by a mere 10-year-old mutant bird kid, the whitecoat put his other hand into the cage. When Iggy kicked again, the whitecoat grabbed his ankle and pulled him roughly out of the cage and onto the floor. Iggy bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain._

_As he was pulled, struggling, out the door, Iggy got one last fleeting glimpse of the flock's anxious faces._

_Down a long, brightly lit hall with doors on both sides. A right turn, then a left turn, then another left, and into a room, struggling and stumbling the whole way. Iggy was shoved into a tall chair, and leather straps were fastened tightly around his wrists and ankles. He couldn't move._

_Glancing anxiously from side to side, Iggy caught sight of a large, black, vicious-looking surgical instrument. A small cry of pain escaped Iggy's lips as a needle found its way into his arm. Before he could react further, the anesthetic kicked in and he began to loose feeling in his hands. Struggling would only spread the anesthetic faster._

"_Don't worry, Iggy."_

_Jeb. He was nicer than the other whitecoats._

"_They're just going to do some work on your eyes. Enhance your night vision, that's all," he explained kindly._

_Hands pressed Iggy back into the seat until he was looking at the ceiling. He couldn't move, couldn't even blink, and he didn't feel anything. But he was fully awake, and he was terrified. The last thing he saw was a needle as it was pushed into his eye._

_Some minutes – or hours – later, a bandage was wrapped around Iggy's eyes and he was shoved, stumbling blindly, down the halls and into his crate._

"_Iggy!" Max exclaimed as soon as the whitecoats had left. "Are you okay?! What happened?"_

_Iggy turned his head in the direction of her voice. "They operated on my eyes. Something about enhancing my night vision," Iggy said, his voice thick with fear._

"_Does it hurt?" The Gasman's trembling voice sounded to Iggy's right._

"_No, no I'm fine. They gave me anesthetic so that I couldn't move, so I didn't feel anything. But I was awake the whole time. I was just…" he trailed off, embarrassed to admit to his fear. The flock understood, and did not pressure him._

"_It's getting late. Go to sleep, okay?" Max told him._

_Iggy nodded and curled up in his crate…_

_A searing pain woke Iggy, and he cried out, sitting bolt upright in his crate. He had no idea what time it was. His eyes felt as if they were on fire, and he clawed at his bandages, startled to find them wet._

_Iggy's scream woke the flock._

"_What happened?"_

"_What's going on?"_

"_Is everyone okay?"_

"_Iggy!"_

_They chorused._

"_My eyes! My eyes, they hurt! It __**hurts**__!" he screamed, crying. Something wet – his tears, he assumed – fell down his cheeks._

"_Iggy, you're bleeding! Your eyes are bleeding!" Max exclaimed._

_Iggy cried out again, more of a sob than a scream, and again tore at his bandages._

_Running footsteps were heard as Jeb and three other whitecoats burst into the room._

"_You idiots! What did you do?!" Jeb yelled as a whitecoat wrenched Iggy from his crate. Iggy, still screaming in pain, didn't try to resist. Another whitecoat shoved a needle into Iggy's arm. He stopped screaming as the pain receded. Jeb picked up Iggy's limp form and carried him from the room._

_Iggy was carried down the hall to another room. Maybe it was the same one as before, maybe not. The bandages were removed from his eyes, and the blood cleaned. Voices swirled around his head, and Iggy struggled to make sense of them._

"_We're very sorry…"_

"_We didn't expect this to happen…"_

"…_don't understand the effects…"_

"…_nothing we can do about it…"_

_Throughout all of this, Jeb continued to yell at the other whitecoats, but his words were incoherent. Finally, he calmed down enough to say, "Well, you're right about one thing: there's nothing we can do about it. He's going to be stuck like this forever." There was a strange note to Jeb's voice. It sounded almost sad – like regret._

_One of the whitecoats carried Iggy back to the room with the flock and dumped him unceremoniously into his crate, then left without a word. Iggy lay with his eyes closed, barely able to move, and feeling rather tired. It must have been late; the fluorescent lights weren't burning through his eyelids like they normally did. Somebody had finally had the sense to save electricity by turning them off._

"_Iggy!"_

_At the sound of Gazzy's voice, Iggy sat up in his crate. His eyes snapped open._

_Or, they would have, had they not been obscured by a bandage._

"_That's funny. I thought they took the bandage off," Iggy muttered to himself._

"_What?" came Fang's disbelieving whisper._

"_Iggy," said the Gasman, sounding both worried and confused, "the bandage __**is**__ off."_

"_No it's no–" Iggy stopped as his fingers touched his face and felt no bandage. "Well, that's weird then. I can't open my eyes."_

"_Iggy… your eyes are open." Nudge's voice was a whisper._

"_What?" asked Iggy. "They can't be." Again, he put his hands to his face, feeling his eyes as he blinked slowly._

_Dread filled Max's voice as she asked, "Iggy, what's wrong?"_

"_I – I'm not sure. Wait, are the lights on?"_

"_Of course they are. The whitecoats, like, never turn them off, even at night. But you know that. Can't you hear them?" Nudge trailed off as a look of confusion crossed her face. "Why?" she asked._

_Iggy had begun to hyperventilate. Now that Nudge pointed it out, he __**could**__ hear the electronic buzz of the fluorescent lights above him. But he saw nothing. He frantically put his hands to his face again._

"_What's wrong Iggy?" The Gasman sounded like he was about to cry._

"_I don't know. I can't…" Iggy raised his head, and Max stared into his eyes._

"_Oh my god," she said. "Iggy, you're… you're blind."_

_The rest of the flock, including Iggy, gasped. Tears began to well up in Iggy's sightless eyes. He put his arms over his head and rocked back and forth, becoming more frantic by the second. "I can't see. I can't see anything. I'm blind. How can I be blind?"_

_Max tried to comfort him. "Iggy, calm down. You'll be okay."_

"_No! No, I can't be blind. Somebody, help me. I can't see anything! I can't be blind! I can't!" Iggy's voice continued to rise in volume until he was screaming, drowning out Max's voice, looking around wildly for a glimpse of something, anything…_

Iggy sat up in his bed, still screaming and flailing wildly. He had no idea where he was. He heard running feet, and then a door burst open and someone grabbed his wrists. He struggled hard until a familiar voice cut through his panic.

"Iggy! Iggy, it's me. It's Max!"

Iggy stopped moving for a few seconds, comprehending. Then he gave a sob and buried his face into Max's shoulder. Max pulled him into a hug. More footsteps entered the room, soft and nearly silent: Fang. He was closely followed by the rest of the flock.

"What's wrong?"

"What happened?"

The younger ones chorused.

Max looked up at Fang, and shrugged, mouthing 'I don't know'.

Fang, however, calmly walked over to Iggy's bed and rubbed his back gently. "Shhh. You're okay. It was just a dream," he whispered.

_Oh_, Max thought. _That makes sense._

"You're safe; you're at home in your room," Fang continued soothingly.

Nudge placed a tentative hand on Iggy's shoulder. The Gasman held one of Iggy's hands tightly in both of his own, and Angel held his long fingers in her small hand. It had been a long time since they had seen him break down like this. A _very_ long time.

Iggy's sobbing quieted, replaced by shuddering gasps, but tears continued to fall from his sightless eyes.

"D'you want to talk about it?" Max asked.

Iggy nodded shakily. "It – it was about the – the S-School," he stammered. Sobs prevented him from continuing.

"Should I tell them for you?" Angel asked gently.

_**Yes**_, Iggy thought.

"It was about what the whitecoats did when they… made him blind," a shaken Angel whispered.

"Oh, Iggy," Max said, and hugged him tightly as he cried.

Fang squeezed his shoulder.

"It's okay, Iggy," the Gasman said, casting a worried glance at his friend. He looked up to Iggy. Iggy was older; he was supposed to be the strong one. He was the one who came up with the plans. He built the bombs. Iggy often comforted Gazzy; he never needed to be comforted himself. But now he _did_ need to be comforted. And Gazzy would be strong for him.

"Those stupid whitecoats won't bother us anymore. And if they try, you and me, we can blow them the heck up! Okay?"

Iggy nodded. Slowly, he calmed. Fang was right: he was safe. He was with the flock. He could _feel_ them there with him, and Iggy knew they'd always be there when he needed them.

"Iggy," Max said, lifting his face to meet hers and brushing his hair out of his eyes, "I promise you, you won't ever have to go back to that School. Not while I'm alive."

Little did she know…


	4. Attack

**A/N: Here, I'll be nice and give you two at once again, since Sightless Dreams was posted once already. But from now on, you only get one a day. (Until I get my hands on Breaking Dawn; you might not get any that day!) This time it's Nudge. Yes, I realize this one is shorter than the rest, but the dream is supposed to be short and fast-paced. Besides, it's quality, not quantity, that counts right? The idea for Nudge's fear came from the second book, when they were at Itex and their fears materialized around them. That was where I got Fang's fear too. The idea for the "setup" of this dream came from a scene from the movie The Covenant. Anyone who has seen it will remember the dream with the spiders. As someone said in a commentary, "each shot was supposed to be more horrifying than the last". That was the way I tried to set up this dream. Hope you like it! Good ol' Gasser is next! -GG17  
**

Attack

_Nudge murmured and twitched fitfully in her sleep, as if she was having a nightmare. She woke with a start, her eyes snapping open. She looked around the moonlit room, wondering what had woken her. Across the room, Angel also squirmed in her bed. Nudge could see the covers moving._

_Something scratched across the floor. Nudge's head jerked and her eyes scanned the room searching for the source, but she saw nothing. Shrugging it off, Nudge closed her eyes in an attempt to return to sleep._

_Just then, she felt something soft brush against her leg. She covered her mouth to keep from shrieking out loud. Then she sat up in her bed and pulled back the sheet to see what had startled her._

_Rats! There were at least four of them crawling around by her legs, big, black and hideous, with glowing red eyes. This time Nudge did scream, a terrified, ear-piercing scream. She leaped out of the bed and whirled to face Angel – who must have woken up when she heard the scream._

_But Angel wasn't awake. And on her bed, staring at Nudge with glowing red eyes, was another monstrous rat. Nudge screamed again, feeling as if she might be sick, and ran out of her room and down the hall toward Max's room._

_This proved to be a mistake. There were even more of them in the halls, lined up one after the other, and some on top of each other, all squirming and running this way and that in clumps that writhed with ripple-like motions. Nudge ran on tip-toe for fear of stepping on them._

_"Max!" she yelled, loud enough to wake the dead._

_There were rats everywhere. Nudge wasn't sure if she could make it to Max's room; the hallway seemed to be growing longer with every step she took. But eventually she did make it, sidestepping a clump of rats and wrenching the door open._

_"Max!" she yelled again, but Max, asleep under her quilt, didn't respond._

_There were no rats on the floor in Max's room. Realizing this, Nudge quickly slammed the door shut behind her to keep the other rats out._

_"Max?" she said again._

_Visibly shaking with fear, Nudge crept over to the bed, still on tip-toe. She gulped and reached out a trembling hand, then yanked back the quilt. _

_She screamed. _

_Max wasn't in the bed. What she had thought was Max was another swarm of rats. The moment Nudge removed the quilt, they all stopped moving and faced her, their red eyes unblinking, glowing in the darkness._

_Then, in unison, the rats crouched and jumped, landing on or near Nudge. She bounded to the door, and pulled – but it didn't open. She was locked in. The rats ran toward her. Nudge was trapped!_

_Desperately she pounded on the door, and pulled at the handle with all her might, but it didn't budge. She heard the rats outside the door and realized that she wouldn't have been able to escape anyway. If only Max were there! Nudge pounded on the door in vain, trying not to look behind her. Any second now, the rats would reach her…_

_"Max! Max!"_

"MAX!"

Nudge jumped out of her bed and ran, stumbling blindly down the hall, screaming the entire time, until she bumped into something. She looked up and screamed again before she realized that it was Max.

"Nudge!" Max said. "Nudge, sweetie, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare? Can you talk to me?" She put her arms protectively around Nudge.

Nudge just stood hyperventilating, tears streaming down her cheeks, while the others drifted out of their rooms to find the source of the commotion.

Fang walked out calmly, but his eyes were alight, flicking from side to side, looking for any sign of danger. The Gasman looked frightened, and Angel stood with her eyes closed, shaking her head as if trying to rid herself of some bad thought. Iggy looked worried and confused.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked.

Max shot him a glare and then, remembering, said sternly, "Language, Iggy."

Iggy huffed and Max decided to take pity on him and let the subject drop. For now. "I think Nudge had a nightmare," she said. "Is that what happened, sweetie?"

Nudge looked up through tear filled eyes, took a shaky breath, and nodded.

"About what?" Fang asked softly. "The School?"

Nudge shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak, and gave a sob. Breathing deeply, she tried again. "Rats," was all she could manage.

Angel shook her head again and whimpered.

"You gonna be okay?" the Gasman asked.

Nudge nodded. "Yeah," she whispered, finally finding her voice.

"Calm down now. You're okay," Max said soothingly. "Tell you what, how about you come lay with me in my bed for tonight?"

"O-okay," Nudge agreed.

Max looked at the others. "Alright, back to bed," she ordered. "Come on, Angel, let's go," she said, taking the young girl's hand. "I'll be right there, Nudge," Max called over her shoulder.

"Goodnight Nudge. Try and have better dreams this time, okay?" the Gasman said as he walked back to his room.

Iggy reached out unerringly and ruffled Nudge's hair before returning to his bedroom.

"Night, kiddo," Fang murmured with a half smile. "Sleep tight." Then he trudged back to his room.

Max was tucking Angel back into her bed. Angel looked up at her with wide blue eyes.

"It was horrible, Max," she whispered. "There were rats all over, swarms of them. And they had scary red eyes." She shuddered.

"Don't worry about it, okay? It was just a dream. Nudge will be fine. There aren't any rats in this house anyway. Now go back to sleep," Max said, her voice soft but firm.

Angel nodded. "Okay Max. Nudge is waiting for you."

Max left the room and went back to where Nudge was standing in the hall. "Let's go, Nudge," Max said with a reassuring smile. She held out her hand, and when Nudge had taken it, Max led the younger girl into her room.

Her bed was small, but Max and Nudge were skinny; they would fit okay.

"There, now," Max said after the two of them had lay down on the bed and pulled the quilt up. "You're okay. Try and get some sleep, alright?"

Nudge nodded hesitantly and confessed, "I'm still scared, Max."

"Don't be. There aren't any rats here," Max said. She smiled. "Next time you have a dream like that, just kick their scrawny little rat asses and show them who's boss. Can you do that for me?"

"Language, Max!" Iggy called sarcastically from his room next door. It figured he could hear them.

"Fine! Rat _butts_, then. Are you happy now?" Max hollered back.

Iggy didn't answer, but Max was sure he was laughing. That idiot.

Nudge giggled and whispered softly, "Okay Max. I'll do that next time." Then she yawned hugely and her eyes fluttered shut. Within moments she was asleep, this time, accompanied by more pleasant dreams.


	5. Protector

**A/N: Yay, you people like these things! That is so awesome! Here's the Gasman's. This dream starts out different than the others. I think it may ramble just a little bit, but you already know that I like the 'flock moments', so that's why it's there. I wanted this to have more of the tone of a 'normal dream', and just a normal day with the flock in general. And, as in last one, there is some fun here with Iggy. As I may have said, he's my favorite character, and often I can't resist adding an 'Iggy moment'. Plus, Gasser and Ig are so close, Iggy just had to feature a little bit in this one. Thanks again to kiki1592 for the idea for this one. As always, please R&R, and stay tuned for Angel's fear! -GG17**

**Disclaimer: (because I've been forgetting this) I don't own Maximum Ride. But everybody should know that by now. Seriously, people, if I owned Maximum Ride, I would have money right now. But I don't. So I must not own it. End of story.**

Protector

_It was a normal day in every sense of the word. The flock was outside running around, playing, and picking on each other. In general, having a good time. At the moment, they were playing tag, as requested by the Gasman, who, incidentally, was "it" for the fifth time since the game began. He was chasing Iggy. _

_For a blind guy, Iggy was __**really**__ good at tag. Not only did his long legs help him run faster than everyone else, but he could also hear all of them coming. Of course he could tell all their footsteps apart, and so he knew whether or not he had to run when one of them got too close. The only sure-fire was to get him was to tag someone, and not shout out that they were tagged._

_The Gasman had done just that earlier, putting a finger to his lips as he tagged Fang, and then pointing to Iggy. Fang had shook his head and rolled his eyes, but he ran over and tagged Iggy._

"_You're it, Ig!" he said._

"_No way! Gasser's it!" Iggy protested._

_The Gasman laughed with glee and shouted, "Nuh-uh! I tagged Fang."_

"_Well, how was I supposed to know that?!" Iggy yelled angrily._

_That was when Max had made up the "Iggy Rule". Well, okay, that was what the Gasman had called it. But that name made Iggy even more angry, so Max officially dubbed it the "Tagging Rule". Gazzy still called it the "Iggy Rule". _

_All Max said was that whenever you tag someone, you have to shout out that they're it. It wasn't just for Iggy's sake; if someone was running away and didn't see someone get tagged, they'd have the same problem as Iggy. Now, for the most part, everyone had already been doing this; it's just part of playing tag. The only problems it created were for Gazzy, who couldn't trick Iggy anymore, and for Fang, who had a tendency to not say much – ever._

_But, with the new "Iggy Rule" in place, the flock had continued playing. Iggy set off straight after the Gasman, and, complying with the new rule, shouted, "Gasser's it!" a few moments later._

_So now the Gasman was chasing Iggy. And not catching him. Gazzy was about to change his course and chase after Nudge instead when Iggy suddenly skidded to an abrupt halt and the Gasman ran straight into him, almost knocking both of them over._

"_Why'd you stop like that, Ig? That hurt! I would tell you to watch it, except you can't. Well, I guess you're it now, huh?"_

"_Shhh!" Iggy motioned with his hand for Gazzy to be quiet._

"_What is it?" Gazzy whispered._

_The rest of the flock, seeing that the game had stopped, came over to see what was wrong._

_Iggy stood still, listening intently. "It sounds like… a chopper," he said eventually._

"_So what?" Max asked, shrugging. "Choppers fly over sometimes."_

"_There's a big car coming from the same direction," Iggy stated._

_The Gasman frowned. That was a little weird, but not alarming._

_Iggy abruptly turned, so that he was facing the forest behind them._

"_What is it, Ig?" the Gasman asked again._

"_Footsteps…lots of them…" Iggy muttered, concentrating hard. "Where have we heard them before?"_

_The Gasman couldn't hear anything._

"_I know them, I know them, who are they?" Iggy kneaded his brow in frustration. Then he gasped, an alarmed look on his face. "Erasers!" he exclaimed._

_The word had barely escaped his lips when a group of at least twenty Erasers burst from the foliage and ran toward the flock, fully transformed, fangs bared. The flock was outnumbered three-to-one. At least._

_The Gasman spread his wings and leapt into the air, preparing to fight. Just like Jeb had taught them over a year ago. Those days seemed a lifetime away right now._

_An Eraser charged, and the Gasman swung his foot, hard. It hit the Eraser in the face, and he faltered for a second. But only a second. In the next moment, he recovered, and grabbed the Gasman by the leg, throwing him on the ground so hard his breath whooshed out._

_Gazzy blinked, dazed. The Eraser knelt over him and began punching him. The Gasman winced. The Eraser punched him over and over – in the nose, spraying blood everywhere, in the stomach, once again forcing the air out of his lungs, in the cheek, causing his head to snap painfully to the side._

_The Gasman mustered his strength and kicked upward. He heard the Eraser's jaw break. The Eraser howled in pain, giving Gazzy enough time to get to his feet. He took off into the air again, clasped his hands together, and brought them down hard on the Eraser's head. The Eraser crashed to the ground unconscious. One down, nineteen to go._

_Somewhere behind him, Angel screamed. Gazzy whirled around. Most of the Erasers were out cold on the ground. So was most of the flock. Fang was struggling to his knees, blood dripping from his mouth, but the rest of the flock stayed down._

_Angel had a huge bruise on her right cheek, just under her eye. An Eraser had her in his arms and was signaling for the others to follow him. They were kidnapping Angel!_

_The Gasman had to protect her. She was his sister! The rest of the flock couldn't help her now. It was all up to him. He flew after them as fast as he could. _

_"Angel!" he yelled._

_He was so focused on the Eraser holding Angel that he didn't see the other Eraser until it had clothes-lined him. Gasser fell to the ground but sprang up again just as fast, wiping blood from his mouth._

_"Let go of my sister!" he screamed, but the Eraser laughed and kept running. The other Eraser grabbed the Gasman by his wings just as he was about to charge after Angel._

_He had to get away. He had to save Angel. He was her only hope. He was her older brother, her protector. He had to keep her safe. But he was failing._

_The Gasman couldn't fight off the Eraser. Gazzy was held by his wings, and the Eraser punched and kicked him. He couldn't get away. The Eraser was too strong for him. It wasn't fair; he was just a little kid! He wanted to be strong , __**had**__ to be strong. But he wasn't._

_He fell to the ground. The Eraser left him to join the others fleeing the scene. Through a quickly growing black tunnel, he saw his sister, helpless little Angel, being carried away. He had to protect her, but he couldn't. He had failed! She was going to be killed, he knew it._

_And it was his fault._

"Wake up Gazzy! Come on, kiddo, wake up!"

The Gasman woke with a start, then sat bolt upright in his bed, gasping. A cold sweat covered his forehead. Max was standing over him, gently shaking his shoulders. The rest of the flock stood by watching, worried looks on their faces.

Angel hurried into the room. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she jumped onto the bed and wrapped the Gasman in a tight hug.

"Angel!" Gazzy exclaimed. He was unable to keep from crying as he hugged his sister. "I'm sorry, Angel. I had a bad dream."

"I know. I heard it all. It's okay, Gazzy." She glanced up, a knowing look in her wide blue eyes. "It was just a dream, Gazzy. I'm fine." She smiled. "And I know you're strong. But you don't need to protect me. We all protect each other, okay?"

The Gasman sniffed and nodded. He wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand.

Iggy walked over to the bed, tripping slightly on some dirty clothes on the floor. He sat down next to the Gasman and ruffled his hair.

"You gonna be okay, Gasser?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," the Gasman said slowly.

Iggy grinned rather evilly. "Will it make you feel better if I say we can build a bomb tomorrow?" he asked.

The Gasman broke into a smile and nodded. Then he remembered and said, "I'm nodding, Ig."

Iggy gently brushed his fingers over the Gasman's face. "You're smiling too," he said.

"Yup," Gazzy agreed.

Max gave the two a stern look (which, of course, didn't phase Iggy in the slightest). "And who says you two get to make a bomb?" she asked.

Iggy turned his head toward her. "I says. Besides," he said, putting on a puppy-dog face, "it's for the Gasman. He said making a bomb would make him feel better, didn't you hear?"

Max laughed and shook her head. "Iggy, you suck at puppy-dog faces, you know that?" she said.

Iggy frowned. "I know. I can't seem to get the eyes right. I don't know what it is," he said seriously.

Max rolled her eyes, remembered, and said, "I'm rolling my eyes, Iggy."

"I'm grinning and laughing because I think you're funny," the Gasman said.

Iggy turned back to him. "Thanks, Gasser. It's nice to know _some _people appreciate my sense of humor."

"But, Iggy, I don't really want to make a bomb tomorrow."

Iggy looked offended. "You don't want to make a bomb?" he asked incredulously. "Then what _do_ you want to do?"

"I want to play tag."

"Tag?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah."

Iggy pouted. He was better at pouting than he was at puppy-dog faces. "I don't like tag. I never know who's it."

"I know how to fix that," the Gasman said with a grin.

Iggy snorted in disbelief. "Really?"

"Yeah, it was in my dream. Max came up with it."

"I did?" Max asked.

Gazzy nodded. "Uh-huh. I called it the 'Iggy Rule', only you got mad, Ig, so Max called it the 'Tagging Rule'. But I like to call it the 'Iggy Rule'."

"And what exactly _is_ said 'Iggy Rule'?" Iggy asked.

"Oh, Max said that when you tag someone, you have to call out that they're it."

Iggy scowled and crossed his arms. "Of course you have to make special rules to help the _blind_ guy."

"No, it wasn't just for you. See, that's why Max didn't call it the 'Iggy Rule'," the Gasman explained. "The same thing happened to her. She was running away from Fang, and he tagged Nudge, only he didn't say anything, and so then she didn't run away from Nudge and she got tagged."

Iggy smiled. "Okay, tag it is."

"Alright, we'll play tag tomorrow, but only if you all go back to sleep," Max said sternly.

"'Night, Gasser," Iggy said. He left the room, careful to step over the dirty clothes that littered the floor.

"Sleep tight," muttered Fang, giving a very brief smile before following Iggy out the door.

Nudge yawned hugely. "Yeah, goodnight," she called over her shoulder as she slumped down the hall.

Angel gave her brother another hug. "Don't worry, I'll be fine," she promised.

Gazzy nodded. "Goodnight, Angel," he said.

Max smiled as she took Angel's hand and led her from the room.

The Gasman yawned, lay down on his side, and drifted back off into sleep, accompanied by dreams of tag and bomb-making.


	6. Premonition

**A/N: Gaspeth I forgot to post yesterday! Bad author! Slaps self in face Ow. Ahem. Anyway, yes, I did forget to post yesterday. So, soooo sorry. Thing is, I babysat most of the day (I think, anyway... yeah, it's Thursday, so I babysat yesterday. Hehe, almost forgot what day it is. Happens to me a lot, especially in the summer.) And when I came home, I talked on the phone for the longest time. I did finally go on the computer, but here's the thing: I'm in the process of transferring my files to another computer so that my dad can have this one to himself for work purposes. So, I was on the computer that I'm technically "supposed" to be using. My fanfictions have yet to be transferred to that computer, though. So I went on the internet and did a bunch of random stuff, and I'm sorry to say that posting didn't even cross my mind. That's how scatterbrained I can be sometimes. And I know it's late today as well. It's... 9:50. That's because early this morning I received a package in the mail. It was nothing less than what I've been waiting for since... who knows when: Breaking Dawn. I am sad to say I have barely started it. But I plan to finish it by next week Tuesday. Why? Because that's when I'm going to go shopping and (hopefully) buy Artemis Fowl The Time Paradox. So, now that my excuses are out of the way, this is Angel's. Before anyone asks, this dream is NOT meant to be the same as the beginning of TAE, so please don't message me telling me that something is wrong, because it's not. I have to thank kiki1592 for the idea for this one as well. Thank you! Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. Please continue to do so; it is very good motivation for me, plus it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that people actually like what I write. :D So, enjoy Premonition, and stay tuned for a BONUS CHAPTER! I'll post it tonight to make up for not posting yesterday. How does that sound? -GG17**

Premonition

_The day had started out so normal, so innocent. Angel and the others had decided to go for a walk. It wasn't long before Nudge was chattering nonstop about nothing in particular, Fang was being his usual quiet self, Max was reprimanding the Gasman for something he had said in Fang's voice, and the Gasman (ignoring Max) was listening to Iggy describe his latest idea for a bomb. Angel had been walking beside Max, holding her hand, and enjoying the slight breeze. Yes, the day was almost perfect._

_Which was why it couldn't last. Funny the way those things work._

_The still, peaceful silence of the morning was shattered when a group of snarling Erasers appeared out of nowhere and charged at the flock. Angel didn't remember much about what happened. It was all a blur. She remembered wondering why Iggy hadn't heard the Erasers coming, but that was just a fleeting thought in the chaos that surrounded the young girl. _

_She had tried to fight, she really had, but she was so little, she couldn't do much. And then, amid the frenzy, an Eraser had grabbed her and run off. Angel had shrieked and struggled against the Eraser as hard as she could, but to no avail. _

_"Max!" she had screamed. Max hadn't answered. At least, Angel hadn't heard her answer. Maybe she had. Angel would never know. She had looked back, but she hadn't been able to see the flock; there were only Erasers, everywhere she looked, dozens of them._

_They had a car waiting. They bound and gagged her, putting a sack over her head and tossing her unceremoniously into the back seat. Then they piled in and sped away even before the doors were closed._

_Even if she hadn't been able to read their minds, Angel had known instinctively where they were taking her. It was the one place she had felt sure she'd never have to see again, the place that terrified her more than anything else in the world: the School.  
They had driven for a long time before screeching to a halt. An Eraser yanked her from the car and carried her inside. The bonds were finally removed, and Angel had been shoved into a dog crate._

_Now, here she sat, wide-eyed, staring anxiously around the room and reading the minds of those who passed by. The sterile smell of disinfectant and antiseptic was making her twitchy. She wanted – needed – to get out of here. The sooner, the better._

_Angel glanced up at the sound of low voices just outside the room._

_"You got the girl, then? The one I asked for?" said the smooth, cultured voice of a whitecoat._

_"Yes," replied the throaty growl of an Eraser._

_"And what of the others?"_

_The Eraser hesitated. "We… roughed them up a bit, but they managed to escape."_

_The whitecoat sighed. "That's alright. At least you got the one we need."_

_Angel listened harder, but this time, not for voices. For thoughts._

_**I bet he's mad at me. Damn it! What the hell is so special about his stupid flock?! Why does he care about them more than me? **_

_The Eraser's thoughts were even more gravelly and angry sounding than his words were. But Angel could sense something else behind these thoughts. Could it be… sadness? Who __**was**__ this Eraser?_

_Angel shook her head. She didn't care about the Eraser or his petty troubles. It was the whitecoat that she was interested in._

_**I hope they didn't hurt her. It's too bad, really, that it has to be like this. But it has to be done. The others escaped… that's problematic. But no matter. Taking care of them will be easy enough.**_

_Now that she heard them, his thoughts seemed familiar. It was like how Iggy could recall hearing someone's footsteps; Angel could recall hearing someone's thoughts. But where had she heard them before? Who was the mysterious whitecoat outside the room, and who was the strange Eraser that was with him?_

_Angel didn't have to wait long to find out._

"_Very well. I will speak to you again soon about your next assignment."_

_Taking that as a goodbye, the Eraser walked off. The whitecoat turned and entered the room. _

_**Hello, Angel. Long time, no see. I've missed you terribly.**_

_Angel gasped._

_**You were very young when I left. Do you remember me?**_

_Of course she did. How could she not? This was the man who had saved her, taught her, been a father to her. Every time she had cried he held her. Every time she had been scared he told her there was nothing to fear. _

_He was her savior._

_He was the enemy._

_He was a whitecoat._

_He was Jeb!_

_Angel couldn't take it. Her mind couldn't take it. She fainted._

_She didn't know how much time had passed before she woke up. Jeb was still in the room, but there was no sign of the Eraser from before._

"_How are you feeling, sweetheart?" Jeb was talking out loud now. Probably because he didn't want to scare her again. He walked slowly over to her crate and knelt in front of it, holding out a glass of water._

_Angel moved as far back in the crate as she could. She cringed away from him, her eyes swimming with nothing less than hatred. _

_Jeb opened the latch on the crate. "Here. Drink this. You must be parched," he said._

_Angel __**was**__ thirsty, terribly so, but she shook her head, refusing the water. Max wouldn't have taken it, so Angel wouldn't either._

"_Please, Angel. I only want to help you."_

_With an angry grunt, Angel kicked Jeb's hand, so the water spilled all over his lab coat. "I don't need your help," she said._

_Jeb smiled sadly as he put the latch back in place. "But you do, Angel. You do need my help."_

_**Be strong, like Max,**__ Angel thought to herself. Her voice low and angry, Angel replied, "No. I. Don't."_

"_But you're all alone," Jeb said. The false note of concern in his voice made Angel want to puke._

"_Not for long," she countered._

_Jeb looked curious. "If I don't help you, who do you think will?"_

"_The flock," she replied automatically._

_Jeb took a breath. "Angel… I don't know how to tell you this…"_

_The tone of his voice drove a spike of fear through Angel's stomach. "What?" she demanded._

"_They're not coming for you."_

_Angel's eyes grew round. "Are they…? They're not… dead?!"_

"_No, no," Jeb replied quickly, shaking his head._

_Angel let out a relieved breath. Recovering her composure, she said with utmost confidence, "Then they're coming."_

"_How can I make you see, Angel?"_

"_See what?" Angel asked warily._

_**The flock isn't coming. It's not because they can't; it's because they don't want to.**_

_It was a lie. Of course it was a lie. But Angel's voice was a whisper when she said, "They don't… want to?"_

"_I'm very sorry, Angel. But while you were unconscious, the Erasers went out looking for the rest of the flock. It's obvious that they have no intention of coming after you. Apparently you were just a burden to them. You're so young, you just got in the way. At least, that's what Max said."_

"_YOU LIAR!" Angel screamed. _

_"I wish I was lying, Angel, I really do. But think about it. All of the others can take care of themselves. Even your brother, and he's only eight. Even Iggy, and he's blind."_

_Angel's eyes filled with tears. Jeb was lying. Jeb __**had**__ to be lying. But… what if he wasn't?_

_**You can read my mind, Angel. You know I'm not lying. You know, deep down. You know the truth. The flock doesn't need you. They don't want you. You're just a burden to them. A worthless little child who needs to be taken care of constantly.**_

_**Worthless…**_

_The word echoed in Angel's mind as she screamed._

"NOOOO!"

Nudge jerked upright at the sound of Angel's scream. As soon as she realized what had happened, she leaped out of her bed and hurried across the room to comfort the frightened girl.

Voices and running feet sounded from the hallway.

"ANGEL!" Max called, clearly alarmed. _**Oh, my baby, my baby, are you okay?**_ The others burst from their rooms too, their voices and thoughts mingling in near chaos.

"Ouch!" Iggy cried as he stumbled. "Watch _out_, Gasser!" _**You have to, because I can't!**_ _**Jeez, if I could only **__**see**__**, I wouldn't be such a klutz!**_

"Sorry, Ig!" came the Gasman's hasty reply. _**It's not like I was paying attention! I wanna know what happened to Angel!**_

Fang said nothing, but his thoughts were frantic. _**Oh god, Angel! What the heck happened? I hope she's okay!**_

They all reached the door at about the same time, but Max got inside first. She ran over to where Nudge was cradling a crying Angel in her arms.

"I don't know what happened!" Nudge said before Max could ask. "She just woke up screaming, and she hasn't said anything!"

Max held Angel in her lap. "Shhh, it's okay sweetie. What's wrong? Can you tell me?"

Angel sniffed and wiped a hand across her eyes. She took a shuddering breath and looked up at Max.

"I had a bad dream," she whispered.

"Aw, hon. You okay?"

Angel nodded.

Fang came over and sat down on the bed next to them.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked quietly.

Angel shrugged and said, "I guess."

"It can help to talk about it," Max told her gently.

"We were outside, and these Erasers came out of nowhere and attacked us. They took me back to the school, and… and…" She started crying again.

"Were those stupid whitecoats being jerks to you?" Iggy asked. "Don't worry," he continued. "If they ever try to do anything to us again, we'll kick their scrawny whitecoat butts!"

But Angel shook her head.

"It wasn't that, it was… Jeb."

The flock gasped.

"Jeb was there? Why? What was he doing?" asked the Gasman, speaking for the first time.

"He… he was… one of Them." Angel broke down into sobs again.

"Oh, Angel honey, Jeb would never have gone back to work for them. You know that," Max said confidently.

"I know, but, in my dream he did. And he said… he said you guys didn't want me. That you weren't coming to rescue me. That you thought I was… worthless," she whispered the last word, not daring to look Max in the eye.

"Angel! I would never, ever think that! Never! None of us would. You've got to know that!"

Angel looked around, wide-eyed, at the flock. Slowly, she nodded. Of course she knew that. She would never doubt them. They were the flock. They were her family. And they loved her every bit as much as she loved them.

"Come on, you guys, let's give Angel a group hug," Max said with a smile.

The Gasman tugged on Iggy's sleeve, and the two of them joined the others already on Angel's bed. It was a little awkward, with Fang going all rigid right in the middle, and Iggy on the outside not knowing exactly where everyone was, but they managed alright.

"Now, everybody back to bed." Max was back in leader mode.

Slowly the flock got up and left the room, the Gasman stopping to give his sister an extra hug. Nudge crawled back into her bed.

"Now, Angel, do you want to come sleep with me tonight?"

Angel shook her head. "Nope. I'm fine now, Max. Really."

"Okay." As Max headed out the door, she stopped and turned around. _**I'll always be here for you. I love you. You know that.**_

Angel smiled and nodded.

Max went back to her room.

Angel didn't know it then, but she had just had a premonition…


	7. Bonus Chapter 1

**A/N: Here you go: your first bonus chapter! Guess what? It's Total! He's as much a part of the flock as the others, so he gets to have a nightmare too. Lucky him! Since this is Total's fear it obviously can't take place before TAE. Therefore, this one takes place sometime between Saving the World and The Final Warning. The flock is living with Jeb and Dr. Martinez. Also, concerning Iggy, I used the name James instead of Jeff, because James is his "real" name. Thanks to kiki1592 for mentioning Total in your review. That was the inspiration behind this and the next bonus chapter. Yes, the NEXT bonus chapter. You get one more, so stick around, okay? As always, please tell me what you think! -GG17**

**Disclaimer: I (still) don't own Maximum Ride. But you knew that.**

Normal

_Total awoke early. Nobody else was awake yet, not even Max. Not that he cared. He stood up slowly, stretched, yawned hugely, and stepped lazily out of his dog basket._

_Dog basket?!_

_What was he doing in a dog basket? He always slept with Angel. Come to think of it, when had they even __**bought**__ a dog basket? It was probably Dr. Martinez's doing. She still had a few things to learn about Total, that was for sure._

_Oh well, no matter. Total trotted down the hall to Angel's bedroom. The door was cracked, as always. She was just waking up, her blue eyes still blinking sleepily. She looked up to see who had entered the room. Her face brightened when she saw Total._

_"Hey there, Total. Come here, boy!"_

_Boy? What was all this 'boy' stuff? More than any of the other flock members, Angel had always treated Total like an equal, not like a dog._

_But it was Angel. Total would forgive her for her little slip up. He trotted over, as she patted the bed beside her, indicating for him to jump up. Total did so._

_Or, rather, he tried to. Being such a small dog, he only made it part of the way. He fell roughly onto his bottom with a startled, "Arf!" _

_Angel laughed that, well, angelic laugh of hers. "Aw, silly Total," she cooed. Jumping nimbly off her bed, she reached down and scooped him up in her arms, setting him down beside her._

_Normally, Total wouldn't have had a problem with the little jump onto the bed. He could jump ten times higher than that. So what was going on today?_

_Angel had begun to pet him, ruffling the fur around his ears. It momentarily distracted Total, and he wagged his tail happily. But enough of that! He had to ask Angel what was going on. Before he could get the words out, however, Angel looked up in the direction of her door and sniffed the air curiously._

_"I smell breakfast!" she said._

_Total sniffed. He smelled it too: waffles. For a blind guy, Iggy rocked, Total thought._

_Angel hopped off the bed and hurried to the door. Halfway there she turned and whistled. "Come on, Total," she said, motioning with her hand._

_Total had had enough. "Oh come on, you did not seriously just whistle at me," he grouched as he carefully jumped off the bed. But Angel had walked out the door without waiting for him._

_As Total stepped into the kitchen, he saw that it wasn't Iggy, but Dr. Martinez, making the waffles. Iggy was seated between Fang and the Gasman at the table. The rest of the flock, still in their pajamas, filed in and took their seats. Jeb came downstairs and gave Dr. Martinez a peck on the cheek before taking his seat at the table as well._

_Something was wrong with this picture. Total was sure of it. But it seemed like an entirely normal scene, and he couldn't figure out what was off about it. Carefully he scanned the kids seated around the table one by one._

_Nudge wasn't talking. She looked at Dr. Martinez, eagerly awaiting her breakfast, but her mouth remained shut. Strange, but not entirely unheard of._

_Fang was smiling, even laughing now, at a joke Total had missed. Now that was really weird, but again, not entirely unheard of._

_Iggy was looking at a paper the Gasman held in his hands. The two were quietly discussing a – wait! Iggy was __**looking**__?!_

_Total's eyes shifted to Max, seated with her back to him. She was talking to Angel. But it wasn't what she was doing that caught Total's eye._

_She was wearing a halter style pajama shirt. He could clearly see her upper back. __**Where were Max's wings**__?!_

_"Hey, what's going on here guys?" Total demanded._

_Angel and Max turned around._

_"What's up with your dog, Angel?"_

_The younger shrugged. "I don't know. Usually he's real good. Hush, Total," she said sternly._

_Total was taken completely aback. There were a number of responses he had been expecting, but this wasn't among them. He didn't know what to say. Angel had never, ever treated him like that. Like… a dog._

_Over by the stove, Dr. Martinez chuckled. "Oh, he probably wants his breakfast too. Ariel, be a dear and fill his food and water bowls."_

_Angel nodded and hopped down from her chair. She scurried over to where two bowls sat on the floor next to the dog basket. She scooped a handful of dog food from a zip lock bag on the floor and dumped it into one of the bowls. Then she took the other bowl, skipped over to the sink, filled it with water, and carefully set it back down on the floor before returning to her seat._

_Total was still too stunned to say anything._

_Then Jeb spoke up. "Valencia, dear, do hurry with those waffles. The kids will be late for school."_

_"Oh no they won't be. You worry too much, Jeb. Anyway, here they are." Dr. Martinez carried the steaming plate of waffles to the table. "James, Zephyr, what have I told you about bomb plans at the table?"_

_"Sorry Mom," Iggy and the Gasman said at the same time. The Gasman hurriedly stowed the paper away in his pants pocket._

_"Guys! Listen to me! What in the world is going on here?" Total yelled._

_Dr. Martinez walked over, frowning. "That's enough, Total. Quiet, or I'll put you outside."_

_"Put me outside? What are you talking about? Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?" Total abruptly stopped talking. Because suddenly, he realized exactly what was coming out of his mouth, and it wasn't words, per se. He was barking. Just barking. No wonder nobody could understand him!_

_This revelation led to a new question: __**why**__ was he barking? Or rather, why __**wasn't**__ he talking?_

_And to think, this morning it had seemed like a normal day…_

_Normal! That was it! That was why everything seemed so weird: because everything was normal. Total had never known a normal day in his life, and neither had the flock. But now they had._

_They were normal kids with normal parents, not freaky mutant bird kids, no freaky mutant talking dog. They were normal. Total was normal. Everybody was horrifyingly… normal!_

"NOOOOO!" Total screamed, thrashing violently.

"Total, Total, wake up! You're having a nightmare!" Angel said, shaking the dog gently.

Total looked around, gauging his surroundings. "Angel!" he exclaimed. "Thank god! Wait, you can understand me, right?"

Angel laughed. "Of course I can, silly."

The rest of the flock chose that moment to burst into the room – noisily and with lots of bumping and tripping, particularly by a certain blind mutant bird kid.

"Angel, what's going on in here?" Max asked, concerned.

Iggy had slightly less tact. "Yeah, what's with all that yelling? Some of us are trying to sleep you know!"

"Sorry," Angel apologized unnecessarily. "Total had a nightmare."

"Wha's hap'nin?" Nudge asked sleepily.

"Never mind," Fang murmured with a half smile.

"What would give Total nightmares?" asked the Gasman.

"Yeah," Iggy chimed in. "I mean, you're a dog. No offense."

"Yes, I'm a dog, but I'm not a _normal_ dog!" Total exclaimed.

Fang leaned over and whispered to Max, "He's got that right."

Iggy, having heard, stifled a snicker.

"I'm serious! I had this dream where everybody was normal. You guys didn't have wings or anything. You had regular names! Nudge wasn't saying a word, Fang was smiling and laughing! And Iggy could see!"

Iggy laughed out loud this time. "Man, Angel, what _have_ you been putting in his water?"

Fang raised his eyebrows and shook his head in disbelief. The fact that Total's dream prompted this much of a reaction from Fang meant that that was about the craziest thing he had ever heard.

"And that's not the worst of it," Total continued.

"What could be worse than Fang _laughing_?" Iggy asked with a smirk. Then he said, "_Ow_!" as Fang elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"I couldn't talk at all. At least, you guys couldn't understand me. I was just barking. And you gave me _dog food_. In a _bowl_. On the _floor_. And I slept in a _basket_."

"Oh, Total, you know we would never do that to you," Angel promised. "Right Max?"

"Right," Max said with a yawn. "Now everybody go back to sleep, okay?"

"Sounds like Nudge already has," Iggy grinned. He was right; Nudge was swaying where she stood, her eyelids drifting closed.

Fang sighed and picked up the smaller girl. He left the room without a word. Iggy and the Gasman followed.

"Night, Angel. Have better dreams, Total," Gazzy called over his shoulder.

"You and Total go back to sleep now," Max said to Angel, tucking her back into bed. She turned and followed the others.

"Don't you worry, Total," Angel said sleepily. "I'll never let you be normal."

"I'll hold you to that," Total replied seriously.


	8. Bonus Chapter 2

**A/N:And I'm back, once again. This time it's Ari, because he was a part of the flock for awhile, and because he's got plenty of things to have nightmares about. You can't help but feel sorry for the kid, once you get past the almost-killing-Fang-twice thing. This one is more depressing than the others. Sorry. I didn't really notice that until I reread it just now. To tell the truth, I didn't want to pry myself away from Breaking Dawn long enough to post this, but I did. See how nice I am? I also wanted to check my email. I had twenty-five of them! I know that for some people, that's not a huge deal, but I have a relatively small group of friends, and I'm used to receiving one or two emails a day. But here I have twenty-five! That's what I get for not checking my email for two days, right in the middle of posting this stuff. So, I decided to read the reviews, just to see if there were any last minute changes I could make to this one. But there weren't. At least, not specifically to this fic. You see, all of you really liked, and maybe even loved this, which is awesome. But some of you wanted more, and said so. And still others of you had to go and give me ideas. Thanks. I really, really like that. I AM slightly frustrated, however. After this, my plan was to be done and get to work on a fic that I am very eager to write - a Twilight Jacob/OC. But then Otherworldly93 suggested I write one for Ella and Jeb. And then Chaos Ride gave me specific ideas for Ella's. And then, to top that off, Otherworldly93 also pointed out a way to make this a longer fic, saying that these don't necessarily have to be oneshots. All of these are awesome ideas, and I have to say that I'm hooked. You can expect chapters for both Ella and Jeb, and hey - maybe even Dr. Martinez while I'm at it. As for the full story idea... I don't know. That is to say - I love the idea, but I don't know if I can pull it off. What with my Twilight fic I really want to finish, plus school starting up again soon means much less computer time. But all the same, I really want to do it. It's an excellent idea. So the final verdict is... Ella and Jeb will be coming. It will be a few days, (probably closer to a week or so), because I am going to finish Breaking Dawn before I do anything else. Dr. Martinez may be coming as well, if I can think of something good for her. The full story idea will not leave me alone, I can assure you of that, but I can't be sure that anything will come of it. I'm not going to explain why in detail - this note is already far to long - but I will say that I do have trouble sticking to one story, which is why, for the most part, I only write oneshots. But we'll see. I'll give it a shot anyway. Thanks for all the reviews and favs and stuff! You guys ROCK! -GG17  
**

**PS: There's a part in the dream where I describe lengths. I am an American, and I do most commonly use the Standard form of measurement. However, since the rest of the world uses the Metric system, that's what I used in the story. Most of you (even the Americans) should know how big a millimeter is. It's tiny. Like, the space between two words on the screen. And in case you don't know, 15 centimeters is about 6 inches. (I didn't know that – I had to look at a double sided ruler.) I'll shut up now - for real. **

Monster

_Ari was sitting in an empty room with white walls. The door was locked from the outside. The whitecoats had put him here._

_Deep down, he had always known this day would come, though he never would've admitted it to himself. But he had known. Jeb had left. He had taken his precious flock and left. Without Ari._

_Jeb had always cared more about his flock than his son. But Ari didn't care about that. No, Ari cared about someone else. He cared about Max. He couldn't explain it, but he had always loved Max. The same could not be said for her. She hardly even noticed Ari. He was normal. He wasn't one of the precious flock. And so he didn't matter to anyone, not even his own father._

_And now his father had left._

_Jeb was the only thing keeping the other whitecoats from using Ari. And now that he was out of the way, they had free reign. Ari already knew what they were going to do to him. They would turn him into an Eraser. And then it would be his job to hunt down the flock and his traitorous father. He might even have to kill them…_

_In truth, he wouldn't mind that so much. The killing. His father didn't care about him, and he didn't care about his father. Seven years of neglect had taken their toll, and had left Ari bitter._

_There was only one person he hated more than Jeb. One other person who had always come between him and Max, and that was Fang. If he had to kill the flock, Fang would die first. He would make sure of that. And if, after Fang was dead, Max didn't come with him, then she would die too…_

_But first, he had to be made into an Eraser. Underneath all the bitterness, Ari was afraid. Despite the hate that burned inside him, he didn't want to become an Eraser. He didn't want to become a mutant killing machine. He was only seven, and he wanted what almost every seven year old took for granted: a normal life, friends, and a caring family._

_The sound of a key in the lock tore Ari from his musings. There were tears in his eyes as he looked up and faced the inevitable. A whitecoat entered the room, walked briskly over to where Ari sat. He grabbed the child roughly by the arm, and wrenched him to his feet. Ari bit his lip, refusing to cry out in pain._

_The whitecoat shoved him out the door and down the hall, all the while keeping a tight grip on his arm so as to prevent escape. As if Ari would even try. He knew there was no escaping his fate. If he tried to run, he would be apprehended by other whitecoats, or attacked by the Erasers who guarded the entrance to the School. Either way, he would have to endure more pain than if he just cooperated._

_They passed many closed doors, behind which, Ari knew, hundreds of despicable experiments had been performed, not only on the flock, but on the other mutants as well. And Ari knew exactly what had happened in most of them._

_This one was where they tested physical endurance on treadmills and weightlifting machines, that one was where they did medical examinations, another one where they injected all sorts of horrible things into the mutants to see the effects, and yet another, inside which, Ari knew, lay the machine the whitecoats had used when they accidentally made one of the bird kids blind._

_Yes, it was all here. All the rooms, all the experiments, all the failed recombinant DNA life forms – if you could call these hideous creatures life forms._

_And finally, they came to the last room in the hallway, the room where Erasers were made._

_Ari wasn't sure exactly how they would make him an Eraser. All of the others had been made into Erasers when they were babies or embryos or something, so that the wolf DNA had a chance to graft to their original DNA. But Ari was seven. So something else would have to be done. And Ari knew instinctively that it was going to hurt._

_The whitecoat escorting Ari shot him a glare before turning to unlock the door. Inside, three more whitecoats were waiting for them. Just like nearly all the rooms in the School, the walls, floor, and ceiling were painted white. There was a lot of electrical equipment inside, as well as metal trays holding medical tools. In the exact center of the room was a chair resembling one you might find at a dentist's office, except that this one had leather straps to hold your wrists, legs, waist, and head._

_Ari kept his face expressionless as he was led across the room and strapped tightly into the chair._

_The oldest whitecoat in the room, an elderly male, grinned rather evilly and said, "We shoulda done this a long time ago."_

_"Are you sure it will work? He's so much older than the others," said another whitecoat, the only female in the room._

_"Does it really matter?" That was the middle aged man who had led Ari into the room. "I mean, either it works and we've got another Eraser, or it doesn't work and the kid dies and he's out of our hair. It's a win-win."_

_The fourth whitecoat said nothing. Instead, he stood over a tray, preparing multiple syringes with different sized needles, ranging from about a millimeter to almost fifteen centimeters in length. Ari quickly looked away and tried not to think about the needles. When the fourth whitecoat finally did speak, his voice was low and menacing. "It is a win-win," he agreed. "Either way, he'll squirm with pain before we're done."_

_"Shall we get started then?" asked the old man._

_"Of course! We're wasting precious time!" snapped the fourth whitecoat. He turned around. In his hand was a syringe with a medium sized needle._

_"Wait a minute!" exclaimed the woman. She hurried over and attached multiple electrodes to Ari's head and bare chest. Then she turned on some machines, which promptly lit up and began to beep rhythmically._

_The fourth whitecoat sighed impatiently. "Now may I?" he inquired sarcastically._

_The woman took a step back. "Be my guest," she said._

_The man walked forward, holding the needle out menacingly._

_Ari cringed and closed his eyes. He bit his lip as he felt the pinch of the needle on his arm. A moment later, Ari screamed as an excruciating pain flowed through his veins._

_The whitecoat smiled with satisfaction._

_Everything became a blur after that. Ari had no idea how much time passed. He blacked out more than once. From the first moment, the pain was constant. Never once did it let up. The other whitecoats had moved around him, injecting his arms, wrists, feet, ribs, neck, even his temples. All the time, one whitecoat watched the monitors closely._

_"We wouldn't want our patient to die early," the old whitecoat had said._

_Then, the injections had abruptly stopped. The faces of the whitecoats loomed over him. Just as the pain began to subside, a new pain erupted in its place. His face was elongating, hideous fangs protruding from his gums, his fingernails becoming deadly claws. He was transforming into an Eraser!_

_Identical grins spread across the whitecoats' faces. "Looks like it worked after all," the woman crowed._

_As fast as the transformation had occurred, it reversed itself. Ari was human again. The whitecoat who had led him into the room unbuckled the restraints and took hold of his arm again. Ari was led back to the same white room he had been in earlier, and shoved roughly inside. The door was locked behind him._

_"You can stay in here for awhile and get used to your new look," the whitecoat had laughed._

_Now Ari crawled unsteadily to his feet. There was a mirror on the far wall. He stumbled over to it. And he nearly fainted when he saw the reflection._

_He was no longer a seven year old boy. Now, he was an attractive young man. Ari's new face repulsed him. There was something inhuman, sinister about it. At the same time, he was filled with a terrible bloodlust. He emitted an angry snarl and doubled over. When he stood upright again, his face had transformed into the grotesque mug of an Eraser._

_Ari howled with rage and ripped the mirror off the wall, smashing it on the floor. Everything about this new form was alien to him. He had never experienced these feelings before. He wanted to kill someone… now! He wanted to rip their throat out and taste their blood in his mouth. He wanted to feel their flesh and bones beneath his claws, and watch the life leave their eyes._

_And as to exactly who this someone was going to be, well, that answer was clear. There was only one choice: Max. He had abandoned the childish hope that she would join him. In place of the love he had once felt for her, now Ari hated her with every bone in his body. And he vowed that he would make her suffer, the way she had made him suffer all these years. And if that meant killing Fang and the rest of the flock… he would do it._

_Abruptly these murderous impulses ceased, and Ari reverted to human form once again. His legs crumpled under him and he fell onto the floor. Then he curled into a ball and began to sob. He was a monster, and he knew it. But he didn't regret it at all. It was their fault anyway. They would all get what was coming to them._

_A monster…_

Ari awoke screaming from a dream he had had countless times before. He quickly strode across the room to the sink and splashed cold water on his face. As his breathing slowed back to normal, the door was unlocked. A whitecoat had come for him.

And this time it wasn't a dream…


End file.
